“It’s too early for azaleas!” locals fretted. Why, the winter camellias were still blooming, for heaven’s sakes!

Charlestonians are proud of their azaleas, largely because the spring flowers make a good story. Charleston was the first city in America to plant them, residents will boast, after the owner of rice plantation Magnolia-on-the-Ashley brought the plants from a Philadelphia greenhouse in the 1830s.

Everything has a story in Charleston, and King Street has 300-plus years of stories. I was walking in the steps of early settlers who moved here in 1680. King Street was the first major road, referred to as the High Way because it followed the crest of a high ridge between marshes on all sides of the peninsula.

Those who traveled this road could tell how the Swamp Fox outfoxed the British in the Revolutionary War, how residents survived hurricanes and an earthquake that nearly destroyed the city in 1886, and how they built one of the most prosperous and loveliest cities on the Eastern seaboard.

King Street remains the main street of Charleston, and I spent all of three days strolling it. On this morning, I walked 4.7 miles from my inn on George Street, a half-block from King Street, heading south. I detoured two blocks to the East Battery and then onward to King Street’s terminus on the South Battery at the harbor.

Along the way, I ducked into historic shops, such as the George C. Birlant & Co. antique store, founded in 1929. They still import 18th- and 19th-century European furniture, silver, china and crystal, and still handle the estates of the city’s aristocrats.

Pecan pralines

I dropped by Market Street Sweets on King Street for pecan pralines, Mary Martin Gallery on Gallery Row at King Street and Broad Street, and detoured to the battery via cobblestone streets to the promenade next to the harbor.

King Street is divided into three districts, which makes exploring the street easier: the Upper King Street Design and Dining District; the Fashion District in the middle, and the Lower King Street Antiques District.

South of the Antiques District is a residential section with some of the city’s most expensive houses including the iconic “single house.” And, no, single house doesn’t mean a single-family house. The width of a single room, the single house extends back on a long narrow lot perpendicular to the street and has a two- or three-story porch facing a side yard.

I retraced my steps and continued past George Street to Marion Square, where it was time for lunch.

She-crab soup

At the historic Francis Marion Hotel’s restaurant, I sat next to a Citadel cadet in dress uniform who was having lunch with his parents. They were perplexed by the mention of she-crab soup on the menu.

And, of course, she-crab soup has a story. The soup was invented in Charleston when Charleston Mayor Goodwyn Rhett asked his chef to make the bland crab soup tastier in anticipation of a dinner for President William Howard Taft. The chef added the orange roe of the female blue crab for stronger flavor and color. Since crab roe is illegal to harvest today, yellow egg yolks and other substitutes are used.

When the 12-story Francis Marion Hotel was built in 1924, it was the grandest hotel in the Carolinas. It was named for Francis Marion, the South Carolina “Swamp Fox,” who served with the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. He was a war hero whose ability to disappear into the swamps made him dangerous to the British.

Across the street from the hotel, the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, built in 1891, stood tall over the green lawns of Marion Square. Nine church members, including senior pastor the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, a state senator, were shot and killed during a Bible study class there June 17, 2015.

The suspect, identified as Dylann Roof, was captured the morning after the attack and was later charged. The church still attracts a steady stream of visitors who go to pay their respects.

After lunch, I considered taking a mule-drawn carriage down King Street and through the historic district, but again struck out on foot.

Culinary surprises

That evening I went to one of my favorite restaurants on King Street, the Tasty Thai. In this city of sophisticated restaurants, many offering Southern specialties, I’ve found that the more humble establishments often offer the best culinary surprises. I still go to Tasty Thai on every visit for grilled shrimp on a bed of papaya and a dessert of sliced mango with sweet sticky rice.

And in a city with some of the country’s most elegant inns, including the new, fashionable The Restoration on the corner of King and Wentworth streets, I always stay at the humble Barksdale House. It was built in 1778 and, of course, has plenty of stories.

DETAILS

* The Restoration Hotel: Spring room rates, including a breakfast basket, afternoon wine and cheese, and nightly port and cookies, start at $299, depending on dates, for a one-bedroom studio and $699 for a two-bedroom suite. The grand opening of this new hotel, which is housed in a historic building, was in February. The hotel is on Wentworth and King streets. 877-221-7202; therestorationhotel.com

* Barksdale House Inn: The small inn is on George Street, a half-block from King Street. Room rates start at about $140, depending on dates, and include continental breakfast buffet and sherry and tea in the afternoon. 843-577-4800; barksdalehouse.com

* Francis Marion Hotel: Room rates start at $160 depending on dates. The hotel fills up fast when events such as the Food and Wine Festival set up in the square across the street. 877-756-2121; francismarionhotel.com

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